Hanging in Salon Style

What is the proper way to hang art on walls?

Most people are inclined to hang pictures side by side in a horizontal line. That's how most of us are used to seeing photographs, prints, and paintings. Personally, I find it boring. Which is why I hang in the Salon style.

When I say "Salon", I'm not talking about a beauty parlor. Rather, I am referring to art exhibitions of the 18th and 19th century. Art was hung from floor to ceiling so that almost every inch of the walls were covered. Interesting, huh? Here is a visual representation of the Salon of 1785:

A modern, more attainable form of Salon style can be seen in the Barnes Foundation:

While it can be a daunting task, it can be great fun to arrange and hang in this style. It's a form of art in itself and it really requires full examination of the art and its surroundings. It's all about finding elements in each piece that complement the others around it--shapes, lines, color. You're creating a composition out of compositions. As seen in the photo above, other hanging pieces can be added to emphasize certain shapes within the art.

So how can you hang your own art like this?

The last thing you want to do is just nail away at the wall. If you do that, you're going to waste a lot of time and end up with a lot of holes in the wall. After all, hanging is not guess work...it's a calculated process. The best and easiest way to set up your arrangement is on the floor.

On the floor?

Yes. I learned this technique from setting up gallery exhibitions. Make sure you have floor space below the wall where you are going to do your hanging. This way, you have a sense of space and you can easily move pieces and make changes to see what looks best before actually hanging on the wall.

I've just hung a wall this morning after spending several hours setting up last night (well, I don't want to wake the neighbors with all my hammering, do I?) You first want to collect all your images, make sure everything you want to put up is framed, matted, or mounted. This can be an ordeal in itself...the right piece needs to be in the right frame and all of the frames needs to complement each other in the arrangement. This means you may have to make some changes along the way.

So, here is the wall that I want to hang on:

As you can see, I've started laying things out on the floor. The process is really just about flip flopping things around until you get it how you like it. Even if you think you like it, it can't hurt to change things just in case you may find a new design that suits the space better. Through preparing for this tutorial, I found that taking photos can be a great help because then you can easily compare all of your designs.

Here are a few arrangements I went through:

I went through several more arrangements, but I decided that I liked my first one best...but it still wasn't sitting right with me. It really needed a horizontal piece in the bottom right center space. I then remembered that I had an M.C. Escher print that would fit well and so I popped it in a frame and replaced the Victorian style photograph.

Things were just about right. But not perfect. So I flipped the whole thing...put the right side on the left side and the left side on the right side.

Exactamundo! And then up on the wall it went!

Tadaa! A Salon style wall in my home. And don't worry about that blank space...a piece of furniture will be going there soon (an antique piece that needs to be fitted with new hardware...some wacko put sleek, modern handles on this beautiful, wooden chest)

I don't know what the last owner was thinking when they picked out those handles...

Anyway, hope this post gives you some insight on how to hang your pictures whether it would be for an art show or just for your living room. Happy picture hanging!